To control and harvest aquatic growths and other commercial products and materials free standing in or disposed on the bottom of bodies of water, both fresh and saline, it has been the practice to employ floating barges, scows, dredges and the like to support slurry pumping equipment. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,599,354; 3,862,537 and 3,866,396.
In most environments it has not been practical to store the products and materials being harvested upon the floating structure carrying the pumping equipment used to bring the harvest aboard. When large underwater acreages are being harvested, fluid transportation of the harvest to remote points such as spoil, storage and processing areas requires larger transfer pumping equipment than is practical to mount upon the harvester.